3-mob.com 
We like to give this impression as we walk about that we are all equal and noone is any bit more important than the other.
An alleged incident over the weekend in which a reveler at the immensely popular Unplugged Zimbabwe monthly sessions has exploded into what in 2018 should not only be a weird but embarrassing conversation.
Perhaps it was said in anger, the belief that people who trek from South of Samora Machel are different, uncouth and even criminals.
A whole group of people have been consigned to a proverbial trash heap based on a patently uninformed, morally bankrupt and really incandescently putrid opinion.
What has happened afterwards is servile justifications of derisory remarks about people from Budiriro, as if those living in the plush clines of Borrowdale cannot possibly engage in rabble rowsing. It is this idea that attaches labels to people based on the PO Box they belong to that has been exposed.
Long ignored because, hey, as long as they are not in your school or your circle of friends they are fine. And it is that attachment to kinship from High School, where being at the right school, with now, the right surname and dating the appropriate person with whom rowdy behaviour was acceptable that has developed a new cancer. Oh and add the right accent too.
People need to let go of that high school mentality yekuti vamwe vanhu vari gwash, grow up! You're never going to control a public environment as well, just party with your friends kumba kwenyu. Unplugged can't sacrifice the majority just to cater to you and your bougie friends.
— ☺ (@ngonimaurice) April 3, 2018
The tragedy of it all is that very few who claim these rarefied spaces where eloquence and basic human decency is seen as a preserve of an address realise that their parents, the bastions of power now still attach great importance to the other side as having created a sense of humanity in them. In effect very few of Zimbabwe’s entrepreneurs at the moment come from a generally well-off background and will be seen more often than not indulging in a spot of sadza and maguru, the latest luxury car and all at a humble eatery in the city.
The new class structures are the creation of a new superficial station, desperate to be seen as of higher standing with greater access and therefore should be accorded the priviledge of an unfettered and uninterrupted lifestyle. Some of it is in the upbringing, in parents, desperate to give their children all they never had growing up, having gone the other way, denying the basic tenets that created their humanity, even simple manners.
Now this is not to suggest by any stretch of the imagination that a conflated argument must mean a mass re-education of people about the impunity we must view class structures in but it is necessary.
The evolving prejudice will become the very same thing we accuse white people of doing when they say ‘we don’t want your kind here’.
Because of perceived priviledge and access, the young 20 year old leaving Mbare or Highfield today will believe that gaining such things must mean that not only must the umbilical chord which attaches them to their upbringing must be cut, but that one must pretend such a past did not exist. And all that heritage will be lost to the world.
Tiered structures will be invoked and indigenous knowledge systems will be the first to suffer.
For their part the organisers have issued a statement attached to the announcement of the launch of the new ExQ album.
Unpluggers, thank you for showing us love in all different ways this past weekend. We’ve never felt more compelled to talk about why we started Unplugged. This thing started through a genuine passion for music. Unplugged is about promoting up and coming talent and connecting artists with ALL audiences. We have immense talent in Zimbabwe and it’s with great pride that, to date, Unplugged has had more than 200 local acts on our stage. Unplugged means NOTHING without actual Unpluggers and we work tirelessly to try and make it as safe and fun an environment as possible. That particular effort will never end.
The beauty of Unplugged has been it not segregating where there was all-access for anyone. If they go the other way and create class structures within it, it will be a win for those who believe a cost, not a culture of tolerance, wherever you come from, will decide who you are there.
I will never go back to Unplugged until they introduce a $30 VIP deck where I don’t have to worry about losing my COOLER BOX or cellphone.
— Dotard (@TheMandishona) April 3, 2018
It is an ugly conversation. We do not like the conversation. We need to speak about class issues and how we can confront them.
Creating bigger fissures merely postpones the war.
While we’re at it… do this: That being said, we [Unplugged] are supporting ExQ as he releases his new album next week on Saturday 14th April 2018. We are really excited to be a part of this. It’s basically Unplugged as usual with some extra MTM love.
We are confident Ellinah and Chiedza will get it right.
Comments
Loading…